2016 Diary

A Ramble on Women's Cricket
 - with diversions -

This diary will be updated erratically throughout the year.

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<Jan 2016)

Exciting & Worrying?

Last year I wrote a piece in this 'Ramble' indicating that both exciting and worrying events loomed on the horizon. Within the first couple of weeks we have now had one fall in each category. As I have been a little full of gloom on the last page or two, let's start with the exciting.

If you have clicked on some of the links on the home page of this site recently you will have seen articles relating to the Women's Big Bash (WBBL) currently running in Australia. Here crowds have been bigger than I am sure the organisers might have feared with figures in excess of 10,000 being quoted. I am unsure if this kind of number relates to stand-alone games or whether the following men's match has attracted some spectators early, but either way it's good to see crowds that you couldn't fit into many of the county stadia in this country. Early TV reports to have shown figures in the order of 400,000 which, exceeding men's grade cricket viewing figures down under, has resulted in the move for a least one match from a subsidiary channel to the main channel of one TV host. Does this bode well for the Women's Super League (WSL) scheduled for August this year in the UK? We have to hope it does but we'll have to wait and see. If it does it rules out the likes of Chelmsford and Hove as being too small!

However, these glad tidings (sorry - cribbed from a Christmas card - and there - I've done it again!)  were followed by bad news.

Ireland have had to withdraw from the County Championship 50-over tournament and the County T20. Every game is for them an away fixture with all its associated cost which, unlike that of the English Counties, will include air fares, and probably hotel bills, for every match! Since Ireland have been good enough to qualify for the last two World T20s this is particularly sad. I have to applaud Cricket Ireland, however, for spending the limited cash they have at their disposal up to now.

The County Championship will be poorer for the loss of the Irish side, and of course, the Irish girls chance of playing competitive cricket has been drastically reduced.

I now need to make my apologies to their players. It has occurred to me while typing this piece that I have used relatively few shots of them in action on this site. I will put together a slide show of Irish players by way of that apology and remind them they are welcome to these pictures free if they'd like them. Just give me a day or two to put this together.

This slide show is now available!